'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 34: Glory Days

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Glory Days

It was an interesting reveal that Carol and Mr. Gar were once part of the elite super hero team P.O.I.N.T..  Therefore, it’s very welcome to get cartoons that highlight that part of their lives.  This is the first cartoon to look into such an era, and it’s an insightful one which explains a lot about the characters involved. 

K.O. tells Carol about a report about teamwork he has to do for school. While he’s not supposed to get help from parents, Carol steps in to teach him everything she knows on the subject under her old hero name Silver Spark.  This is where the flashback of her and Mr. Gar’s, i.e. El-Bow back then, first day at P.O.I.N.T. begins. 

Right away, there’s a major contrast in approach to the first day.  Silver Spark was excited about starting out right down decorating her locker well, akin to how her future son would approach being a hero. El-Bow’s feelings on being at P.O.I.N.T. are very different from what you’d expect.  Rather than being confident, all-powerful, and authoritative like he is today as Mr. Gar, El-Bow was very nervous about starting out.  Apparently, unlike young K.O. who’s always trying to be notices as a hero, El-Bow never actually expected to be a hero.  He was only at P.O.I.N.T. because he was spotted fighting in a boxing ring at the time.  It shows that he never had such aspirations, yet he’s now one of the most ultimate heroes. 

Through it all, there’s an endearing charm to his chemistry with Silver Spark who encourages him to approach P.O.I.N.T. with confidence.  It adds depth to how he has a crush on Silver Spark, now Carol, for showing that he sees more in her than just simple infatuation to appearance.  She’s basically the reason El-Bow pushes himself to be the best hero he can, and from what we’ve seen throughout the season, this seems to have paid off greatly. 

The flashback is also a good one to nicely allude to history repeating itself.  In addition to Silver Spark’s optimism matching K.O.'s, the early days at P.O.I.N.T. for her, El-Bow, and a cute kangaroo-like creature Rippy Roo, involved them cleaning the facility.  It's just like what K.O. usually does at the bodega.  The cleaning was mostly used to exercise their powers which were put to the test when a rock creature bent on destroying P.O.I.N.T. shows up and the top members aren’t around.  Throughout the battle, Silver Spark’s encouragement to El-Bow helped him determine how to beat the creature more confident than ever.  Even when it didn’t work, Silver Spark was quick to understand teamwork. They both combined their powers to defeat the creature down to the eyeball that Silver Spark still has today. 

The junior P.O.I.N.T. members getting true recognition for how well they handled the fight is a fitting end for the flashback.  Still things remain interesting with Silver Spark showing more interest in a top hero, Laserblast.  It adds drama to this newly formed relationship by leading one to wonder if Silver Spark and El-Bow, or Carol and Mr. Gar, can really work out despite proving to be a good team.  The answer to that becomes clear later, but for now we’re left with a great story with interesting character reveals teaching that teamwork is just like math but much more fun. 

A+

The Ranking

1. Face Your Fears
2. You Have to Care
3. T.K.O.
4. No More Pow Cards
5. Glory Days
6. Legends of Mr. Gar
7. We’ve Got Pests
8. I Am Dendy
9. Let’s Have a Stakeout
10. You Get Me
11. Let’s Be Heroes
12. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
13. K.O.’s Video Channel
14. Jethro’s All Yours
15. Know Your Mom
16. Everybody Likes Rad?
17. A Hero’s Fate
18. Plaza Prom
19. We’re Captured
20. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
21. Let’s Be Friends
22. We Messed Up
23. Presenting Joe Cuppa
24. Sibling Rivalry
25. Second First Date
26. Stop Attacking the Plaza
27. Just Be a Pebble
28. The Power is Yours
29. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
30. You’re Level 100
31. You Are Rad
32. We’ve Got Fleas
33. Rad Likes Robots
34. One Last Score

The next OK K.O. review covers K.O. competing in the Plazalympics with teammates even smaller and weaker than him.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is Episode 29 of Animaniacs.

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